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Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Foreword
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1 Opposing the Market Through Responsible Consumption to
Transform It
1.1. Introduction
1.2. Corporate adjustment strategies in response to the contestation
of market logic
1.3. Ideological and institutional categories of expressions of
contestation
1.4. Pragmatic and operational categories of market contestation
1.5. Conclusion and implications
1.6. References
2 Luxury and Sustainable Development: Companies and the
Challenge of Overcoming Consumer Reluctance
2.1. Introduction
2.2. The commitment of the luxury sector to sustainability: an
unavoidable but risky strategic choice!
2.3. The perceived contradiction between luxury and sustainable
development: origins and solutions
2.4. Conclusion
2.5. References
3 The Fight Against Food Waste: Approaches and Limits to
Consumer-based Actions
3.1. Introduction
3.2. Food chains under tension, food losing value
3.3. Consumer responsibility
3.4. Reducing food waste in mass catering
3.5. Conclusion
3.6. References
4 Food Waste in Family Settings: What are the Challenges, Practices
and Potential Solutions?
4.1. Introduction
4.2. The actors in family food waste: everyone is involved!
4.3. Multifaceted wastage during family consumption at home
4.4. Conclusion: What about the future?
4.5. References
5 The Packaging-free Product Market: A Renewal of Practices
5.1. Introduction
5.2. The characteristics of packaging-free consumption
5.3. Offerings on the packaging-free product market
5.4. Conclusion
5.5. References
6 The Conditions for Effective Social Communication
6.1. Introduction
6.2. Social communication: a shifting reality
6.3. How can the credibility of communication be ensured?
6.4. How can CSR provide added value to customers?
6.5. Conclusion
6.6. References
7 The Effectiveness of “Provocation” in Environmental Advertising:
Beware of “Greenbashing”
7.1. Introduction
7.2. Greenbashing: clarification of a new concept
7.3. The effects of provocation on the effectiveness of environmental
advertising
7.4. Conclusion
7.5. References
8 How Can We Communicate Effectively About Climate Change?
8.1. Introduction
8.2. A gap between awareness and behavior
8.3. How can we communicate about climate change?
8.4. Mental representations of climate change among children
8.5. Conclusion
8.6. References
9 Environmental Regulations and Awareness-raising Campaigns:
Promoting Behavioral Change through Government Interventions
9.1. Introduction
9.2. Overview of the environmental intervention tools of public
authorities
9.3. Improving the effectiveness of pro-environmental public
policies: the contribution of marketing
9.4. Conclusion
9.5. References
10 The Repairability of Household Appliances: A Selling Point for
Utilitarian Products
10.1. Introduction
10.2. Repairability: a complex concept
10.3. The effects of a “repairability” label on purchasing behaviors:
mixed results
10.4. Conclusion
10.5. References
11 The Role of the Fairtrade Label in the Spread of Sustainable
Production and Responsible Consumption in West Africa: The Case of
Côte d’Ivoire
11.1. Introduction
11.2. The Fairtrade label: towards sustainable production and
responsible consumption
11.3. The application of the Fairtrade label by producer organizations
in Côte d’Ivoire: challenges and implications
11.4. Conclusion
11.5. References
12 Mobile Apps and Environmentally Friendly Consumption:
Typology, Mechanisms and Limitations
12.1. Introduction
12.2. A typology of environmentally friendly mobile apps
12.3. The influence of mobile apps on behavior
12.4. What are the implications for the different actors in
environmentally friendly consumption?
12.5. Conclusion
12.6. References
13 Digitalization in the Service of Socially Responsible Consumption?
Focus on Food Consumption
13.1. Introduction
13.2. The paradoxes of digitalization and sustainable food
13.3. Digital technology: a powerful tool
13.4. Conclusion
13.5. References
14 Augmented Products: The Contribution of Industry 4.0 to
Sustainable Consumption
14.1. Introduction
14.2. Infrastructures and processes
14.3. Analytical capabilities
14.4. Conclusion
14.5. References
Conclusion
List of Authors
Index
End User License Agreement

List of Tables
Chapter 1
Table 1.1. Main features of the three communities studied
Table 1.2. Views of the development of marketing practices through
the lens of r...
Chapter 2
Table 2.1. Examples of responsible initiatives in luxury industry
Table 2.2. Sources of dissonance between luxury and sustainable
development
Chapter 4
Table 4.1. Impact of family characteristics on the generation of food
waste
Chapter 6
Table 6.1. List of the main benefits of a responsible offer
Chapter 7
Table 7.1. The experimental conditions considered in the study
Table 7.2. Mean values of dependent variables in the test groups and
the control...
Chapter 8
Table 8.1. Emotional profiles in relation to combating climate change
Chapter 9
Table 9.1. Overview of advantages and limitations of pro-
environmental regulator...
Chapter 10
Table 10.1. Elements supporting and limiting the repairability of
products
Chapter 11
Table 11.1. Overview of fairtrade labels
Table 11.2. Integration of the objectives and social and
environmental impacts i...
Chapter 12
Table 12.1. Types of environmentally friendly consumption practices
Table 12.2. Stages of the decision-making process and implications
for environme...
Table 12.3. Environmentally friendly mobile apps and purchasing
decisions
Table 12.4. Main challenges for the different actors in
environmentally friendly...
Chapter 13
Table 13.1. Technical reasons for adopting an app
Table 13.2. Dimensions of intrusiveness
Table 13.3. The four stages of training a subject to be responsible
Table 13.4. Means of empowering actors
Chapter 14
Table 14.1. Features of the contribution of additive manufacturing to
extending ...
Table 14.2. Features of the Internet of Things and its contribution to
extending...
Table 14.3. Features of Big Data and their contribution to extending
the life sp...
Table 14.4. Features of artificial intelligence and its contribution to
extendin...

List of Illustrations
Chapter 4
Figure 4.1. Three ways of addressing food waste at home with
children
Figure 4.2. Three ways of explaining food waste by teenagers
Figure 4.3. The food products most wasted by households
Figure 4.4. Stages of consumption, sources of and solutions to the
issue of food...
Chapter 5
Figure 5.1. Motivations for packaging-free consumption (n=146). For
a color vers...
Figure 5.2. Obstacles to packaging-free consumption (n=168). For a
color version...
Figure 5.3. Word cloud relating to packaging-free products. For a
color version ...
Chapter 6
Figure 6.1. Overview of potential social communication strategies.
For a color v...
Chapter 7
Figure 7.1. Example of an advertising poster issued by a company
mocking ecologi...
Chapter 9
Figure 9.1. Proposal for a regulatory mix combining the different
types of envir...
Figure 9.2. Example of segmentation by household size as part of
establishing a ...
Figure 9.3. Example of communication by ADEME (the French
Environment and Energy...
Chapter 10
Figure 10.1. Repairability label
Chapter 12
Figure 12.1. Use of mobile apps in consumption
Figure 12.2. The influence of mobile apps on environmentally
friendly consumptio...
Chapter 13
Figure 13.1. The five models for influencing the consumer to create
more respons...
Figure 13.2. Overview of the role of digital devices in assisting
responsible fo...
Chapter 14
Figure 14.1. The use of Industry 4.0 for extending the life spans of
products
SCIENCES
Agronomy and Food Science, Field Directors – Jack Legrand and
Gilles Trystram
Food Chain Management, Subject Head – Jean-Marc Ferrandi

Marketing for Sustainable

Development

Rethinking Consumption Models

Coordinated by

Sihem Dekhili
First published 2021 in Great Britain and the United States by ISTE Ltd and John
Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or
criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act
1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form
or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the
case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms and licenses
issued by the CLA. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside these terms should
be sent to the publishers at the undermentioned address:
ISTE Ltd
27-37 St George’s Road
London SW19 4EU
UK
www.iste.co.uk
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
111 River Street
Hoboken, NJ 07030
USA
www.wiley.com
© ISTE Ltd 2021
The rights of Sihem Dekhili to be identified as the author of this work have been
asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2021940271

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-1-78945-036-1

ERC code:
LS9 Applied Life Sciences, Biotechnology, and Molecular and Biosystems
Engineering
LS9_5 Food sciences (including food technology, food safety, nutrition)
SH2 Institutions, Values, Environment and Space
SH2_6 Sustainability sciences, environment and resources
SH1 Individuals, Markets and Organisations
SH1_10 Management; marketing; organisational behaviour; operations
management
Foreword
John THØGERSEN
Department of Management, Aarhus University, Denmark

Since the Industrial Revolution, humanity has been extremely

successful in combating diseases, producing a sufficient supply of
food and other necessities and adapting its environments to its
needs. However, this success has a downside. The boom in human
production and consumption has led to planetary boundaries for safe
operating spaces being crossed in a range of areas, including climate
change, biosphere integrity, biogeochemical flows and land-system
change. Humanity is now so plentiful and powerful that our activities
impact basic planetary functions. This development is so radical that
scientists speak about a new geological epoch: the Anthropocene.
Therefore, humans, for their own sake, must become stewards of
the planet and get us back into a safe operating space, while
maintaining acceptable ways of life, as expressed, for example, in
the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. This is a major task and it
is the government’s responsibility to organize and regulate it.
However, governments will not be able to prevail without the support
and active engagement of companies and the civil society as both
consumers and citizens.
Engaged citizens are a valuable source of knowledge and ideas for
new norms and regulations that are adapted to the national and
local context. An informed citizenry is also a prerequisite for
achieving the necessary acceptance and support for new regulations.
In addition, changes in consumer behavior are a prerequisite for
many transformations, including the move from fossil to renewable
energy, from a linear to a circular economy, and to a more plant-
based diet in industrialized countries.
The scientific understanding of global challenges and technical
solutions has increased tremendously in recent decades, but
knowledge and understanding of “the demand side” is lagging
behind. We need more knowledge and understanding of citizen-
consumers’ concerns, limitations, goals and wants with regards to
new and sustainable products, services and wider solutions, as part
of a wide range of sustainability transformations. We also need more
knowledge of how to gain the acceptance, support and engagement
of the public, as citizens and consumers with diverse values, needs,
wants, resources and contexts.
For example, in developed countries, private households are
responsible for about a third of wasted food and about two thirds of
plastic waste. Packaging waste, most of which is discarded by
households, creates significant problems in nature. Therefore,
consumers need to be actively engaged in closing the loops for
materials that pass through private households in huge volumes for
the radical and urgently-needed transformation from a linear to a
circular economic model to succeed. Marketing, as a discipline and
practice, has accumulated experiences and insights and developed
effective tools to strengthen consumer acceptance of recycled
products or products made using recycled materials, and to increase
the amount and quality of waste materials that are reused or
recycled from households.
This book coordinated by Sihem Dekhili is a welcome contribution to
advancing our knowledge and understanding of the role of the
demand side for sustainable development and especially about how
to mobilize the tools, techniques and insights of marketing for
sustainable development. It offers a range of fresh perspectives on
sustainability transformations in the modern digital era, drawing on
the creativity and skills of a broad group of researchers. Like
marketing in general, its main focus is on individuals as consumers
and on creating value for all parties in an exchange as a means to
achieve organizational and societal goals. This customer-centric
perspective of marketing may be the most important contribution to
speeding up sustainability transformations. However, marketing is
not limited to commercial exchanges and viewing people as
individual consumers. Marketing has proven to be an effective
means for attaining massive changes in behaviors and lifestyles,
including making citizens aware of the need for sustainability
transformations in order to accept the required regulations. It is
important to ensure consumers are well-informed and understand
and trust sustainable products, services and solutions, both to
convince them that it is worth their effort and help them to adopt
more sustainable goods and practices. Especially, marketing has
refined effective tools to help consumers make sustainable choices in
supermarkets, including credible sustainability labeling.
Mobilizing consumers and engaging them in sustainability
transformations requires a deep understanding of their diversity, and
the ambiguity and conflicts related to their goals. Some consumers
resist the conventional market system and experiment with various
forms of simpler, sufficiency-oriented lifestyles. Others make an
effort to choose environmentally-friendly products and services. Still
others are environmentally concerned, but feel unable to do
anything because they feel that they lack credible environmental
information or believe that the tradeoffs are insurmountable. It is
therefore important to differentiate between people with different
needs, wants, and abilities and to adapt regulation, education,
communication and solutions accordingly. More than any other
discipline, marketing has developed insights and effective tools for
the segmentation and targeting of consumers with different needs,
wants, and abilities.
This book is a much-needed contribution to the understanding of the
demand side in sustainability transformations and especially of
marketing as a force for change towards sustainable development
goals. It combines a solid foundation in the accumulated insights of
marketing with an appreciation of the specific challenges and
opportunities of the current age, including digitalization, mobile
applications, machine-to-machine communication and the Internet of
Things. These new technologies are rapidly changing our lives and
when they are used well, they offer new opportunities for supporting
responsible consumer behavior and sustainability transformations.
This makes this book a useful resource for marketing scholars and
practitioners alike; indeed for everyone who is engaged in the
sustainable transformation of society, in companies, politics, NGOs
and the civil society.
Acknowledgments
Sihem DEKHILI
CNRS – BETA, University of Strasbourg, France

The journey from an idea born several years ago to the production
of this book has been an extremely exciting adventure!
First of all, my warmest thanks go to the 41 authors of this book
who have shared my enthusiasm for the topic of responsible
marketing and its role in strengthening the sustainable development
movement. The exchange of ideas and discussions has been a
source of great richness.
All of the authors have brought their expertise to the reflections
within the framework of a collective work that has been undertaken
in a spirit of attentive listening and conviviality. This kind of project
makes the job of an academic even more stimulating.
Huge thanks go to John Thøgersen for the Foreword, as well as for
his availability and great kindness. He is a renowned researcher,
whose activities and publications in the field of sustainable
consumption are numerous.
I would also like to extend particular thanks to Jean-Marc Ferrandi
and Patrick Gabriel for their thoughtful advice.
Lastly, the aim of proposing a work anchored in action would have
been impossible without the numerous practitioners who offered
their viewpoints and enriched the analyses of the researchers. If
only they could all be thanked here for their precious contribution!
I hope the readers take as much pleasure from the reading of this
book as its authors did from creating it!
Introduction
Sihem DEKHILI
CNRS – BETA, University of Strasbourg, France

For a number of years, sustainable development has been an

omnipresent issue in both media discussions and in political,
economic and academic debates. It is pushing a real challenge into
the spotlight: the balance between the economic, environmental and
social components, with the aim of satisfying the needs of the
current generations without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs (Brundtland 1987). Sustainable
development, looking to the long-term, promotes altruistic values
that are beneficial not only to the protection of the planet, but also
to social justice and the well-being of others. Indeed, as stated by
Gabriel (2003), the wealth created by companies can have an
environmental and social cost, and those that benefit from this
wealth are not necessarily those that bear the cost. Sustainable
development also refers to the idea of controlled production and
mindful consumption, with personal pleasure pushed to the
background.
Various efforts have been made to take these considerations into
account. Most countries have implemented regulations supporting
sustainability. Companies have become involved and some have
even put sustainability at the heart of their business models. We
have thereby seen the development of a new offer on the market,
with products using fewer resources and polluting components, and
generating less waste (Auger and Devinney 2007; Yannou-Le Bris et
al. 2019).
At the same time, there has been an increase in environmental and
social awareness among consumers. A large number of surveys
support the idea that individuals, especially in Western societies, are
concerned about ecological crises. This is the case in a survey
conducted by Ifop in late 2019, which estimated that 86% of French
people were aware of this issue. Groups of “consum’actors”, looking
for meaning in life, have emerged and reveal a significant
expectation of societal change. As a result, they are turning to an
alternative mode of consumption and practices, such as donation
and sharing that aim, in particular, to extend the lifespan of
products.
The efforts made and the prevailing discussions around sustainable
development tend to suggest that we are experiencing a “green era”
(Davies et al. 2012). However, the reality is quite different! The
sustainable criterion is far from being a decisive factor in consumer
purchasing decisions, even for the individuals with the greatest level
of ecological awareness. Sustainable consumption, primarily the
reserve of those with the highest levels of income and education, is
for many merely a “surface engagement”, as the new consumption
pattern that they embrace is being superimposed over entrenched
consumerist habits (rather than replacing them) (Daumas 2020).
Within this context, the gap between values and declarations, on the
one hand, and behaviors, on the other, has been widely documented
in the literature, often by using the term “green gap”. Despite the
efforts made, sustainable development remains the preserve of a
niche market. The strategies of companies in this field sometimes
turn out to be insufficient. Indeed, their desire to make their image
greener can result in opportunist behaviors and greenwashing.
Consumers perceive environmental communications as ambiguous
and overblown and express little trust in the brands that spread
them. Some think that the ecolabeling procedure is based on an
incomplete approach that only takes into account a limited number
of criteria, and that the communication on ecolabels remains
insufficient (Thøgersen et al. 2010; Dekhili and Achabou 2015). At
the distribution level, super/hypermarkets suffer from a lack of
legitimacy in selling ecological products and the price policies are not
always considered fair for consumers (Dekhili et al. 2017). A cultural
barrier can be added to this; responsible practices such as the
example of the doggy bag can be slowed down by the social norms
that dominate a country (Achabou et al. 2018).
These obstacles to the spread of responsible behaviors and goods
put the importance of the sustainable development movement into
perspective. At the same time, they offer immense avenues for
exploring solutions to reconsider consumption patterns and develop
the green market. This leads us to the key question guiding this
book: how can marketing contribute to strengthening sustainable
consumption?
Marketing is undoubtedly the area most suited to market
development. However, its objectives can be perceived as opposite
to those of sustainable development (Kotler 2011). In any case, the
compatibility between the two fields has been widely questioned.
Marketing aims to sell in a profitable manner. It is seen as a field
based on the short term and on the response to selfish motivations.
Marketing is also accused of having encouraged overconsumption
and waste in shifting the focus from the satisfaction of real
consumer needs to a response to short-lived individual desires
(Brownlie 2006).
In this respect, the “power” of marketing and its key role in the
evolution of modes of consumption should be recalled. Marketing
choices can have an influence on individual health through the
products promoted and the social groups targeted (as with
advertisements for food products high in saturated fats during
programs aimed at children). Moreover, marketing affects the
representation of individuals and their lifestyles (for example, the
demeaning image of women in advertising).
Because marketing enjoys a certain “power” and in view of the
significant effects it can have on individuals, particularly the most
vulnerable, a number of business practices have been condemned
following denunciations from NGOs, scientists and consumer groups.
As a result, advertisements that are considered problematic have
been withdrawn (as in case of exaggerated claims made by Nivea
about its beauty creams) and brands have been boycotted because
of sales practices that are considered irresponsible (such as Nestlé in
view of its marketing practices for powdered milk for infants in
Africa), giving rise to a stricter legislative regulation of marketing
practices. In this regard, we can note the example of the obligation,
in France since 2007, for the advertisers of some food products to
introduce health information into their communications, such as “For
your own health, avoid eating too much fat, too much sugar or too
much salt.”
If there have been some opportunist practices on the ground, this
should not, in any case, call into question the marketing field as a
scientific discipline. From the beginning, marketing has been
positioned as a medium for the relationship between a company and
its consumers, and the search for well-being remains at the very
foundations of the discipline (Andreasen 1994). Today, more than
ever, marketing should implement credible and visible actions that
will help to increase the legitimacy of companies in relation to the
concept of sustainable development (Gabriel 2003). Our society, as a
whole, seems to demand marketing that is accountable and
demonstrates “its good faith”. This book aims to respond to that
demand: it is essential not only to go beyond the marketing-
sustainable development split, but also to demonstrate the interest
of relying on the tools and analytical frameworks of marketing to
serve the cause of sustainability. Marketing and sustainable
development can be intertwined in order to achieve a common goal,
of strengthening ecological behaviors.
Fourteen chapters, rooted in action and offering rich and detailed
views of different topics related to the question posed, are included
in this book. The analysis suggested by scholars specializing in the
field of responsible consumption is completed by the views of
professionals in the field (managing directors, sustainable
development heads, managers, consultants, public officials, etc.).
These chapters cover five complementary themes.
The first theme explores, in the first two chapters, the role of the
consumer in the green movement. In Chapter 1, Abdelmajid Amine
and Mouna Benhallam consider individuals with a high level of
environmental and social concern, who opt for radical changes
regarding the traditional consumer pattern. By studying the case of
engaged online communities, the authors show that, through their
resistance to the market, these consumers are contributing to
transforming it by promoting responsible consumption.
In Chapter 2, Mohamed Akli Achabou and Sihem Dekhili, on the
other hand, consider the case of consumers less sensitive to ecology.
The significant attention paid to the intrinsic characteristics of the
offer (such as quality in the case of luxury products) can lead to a
rejection of eco-products; some consumers believe that the
integration of sustainable attributes decreases the offer’s value. More
broadly, by highlighting a perceived contradiction between luxury
and sustainable development, the authors deduce that the green
issue cannot be explored in the same way for different product
categories.
The second theme, addressed over three chapters, concerns waste,
in particular, that produced in the food sector. This is a subject that
has played an important role in media and political debates in recent
years.
In Chapter 3, Guillaume Le Borgne, Margot Dyen, Géraldine
Chaboud and Maxime Sebbane question the role of the consumer in
the above-mentioned waste. By analyzing the different structural,
contextual and chain organization constraints, the authors call for
the responsibility of consumers in waste to be put into perspective,
compared to the other actors in the food system. By exploring the
case of mass catering companies, they highlight the sources of the
ineffectiveness of measures to combat food waste.
In Chapter 4, Amélie Clauzel, Nathalie Guichard and Caroline Riché
address this issue in a smaller sphere, that of the family. They
outline the role of each family member in the food waste
phenomenon and mention the differences in perceptions of food
waste within the same household. Moreover, the authors analyze the
causes of waste resulting from family purchase and consumption
processes.
In Chapter 5, Maud Daniel-Chever, Élisa Monnot, Fanny Reniou and
Lucie Sirieix look at a new mode of buying products that is aimed at
combating waste: packaging-free products. The authors provide, on
the one hand, an understanding of the profiles of consumers buying
such products, their motivations and barriers, and on the other
hand, an analysis of the offer in this field and the complexity of
managing it.
The third theme in this book concerns communication. Three
chapters are focused on a thorny question in responsible marketing:
should companies communicate about sustainability? And if so, how?
To what extent can this communication be responsible and effective
in relation to the target’s expectations? The topic is a particularly
important one as the reactions to societal communications are often
negative and the phenomenon of greenwashing continues to be
prevalent.
To respond to these questions, in Chapter 6 Agnès François-
Lecompte and Sylvie Foutrel, by considering societal communication
as a triptych (“what message”, “what channel” and “to whom”),
discuss the conditions of its effectiveness. The authors study the
question of the credibility of the message and the potential of the
societal communication to create value for customers.
This reflection is expanded in Chapter 7 through the contribution of
Sihem Dekhili and Samer Elhajjar, which is focused on a particular
element of communication: the tone used. More specifically, the
authors examine the effectiveness of “provocation” in environmental
advertising. Given the consumer skepticism towards the green claims
of companies, some brands have opted for greenbashing, a form of
communication characterized by sarcasm. The advertisers, in such
cases, do not hesitate to deliberately mock green activists and/or
trends. The authors detail the motivations that lead brands to favor
this communication tone and test its effect on the effectiveness of
environmental advertising.
The topic of communication is brought to a close in Chapter 8 by
Philippe Odou, Marie Schill and Manu Navarro, who investigate how
to communicate effectively on one particular complex topic: climate
change. The authors analyze the types of communication and the
emotions to stress when targeting adult profiles showing different
emotional reactions and intentions to act. At a time of
unprecedented mobilization among the younger generation, the
authors are interested in the specific case of children, providing a
deep understanding of the mental representations of climate change
among this target group.
The fourth theme, addressed over three chapters, looks into the
issue of regulation. Firstly, in Chapter 9, Leila Elgaaied-Gambier and
Laurent Bertrandias suggest an interesting analysis of the following
question: how can the integration of a marketing approach into
public policies for sustainability contribute to making them more
acceptable in the eyes of the target audience? The authors discuss
different approaches adopted by the public authorities in
environmental regulations and discuss their advantages and
limitations, before further consideration of the contribution of
marketing in terms of strengthening the efficiency of pro-
environment public policies.
Then, in Chapter 10, Mickaël Dupré, Patrick Gabriel and Gaëlle
Boulbry address the issue of information on the reparability of
products. They propose to determine whether this constitutes a
selling point, especially among people particularly concerned by
sustainability. The authors offer an understanding of the repairability
concept and consider the effects of a “reparability label” on
consumer perceptions and behaviors in the case of household
appliances.
Lastly, in Chapter 11 Mantiaba Coulibaly-Ballet focuses on the fair
trade label. Through a study conducted in Côte d’Ivoire, the author
questions the role of this cue in both the spread of sustainable
production and the encouragement of responsible consumption, in a
context where sustainable development is still emerging.
The book concludes with a very current fifth theme, the digital
domain. Three chapters emphasize the role that technological and
digital tools can play in the expansion of the green movement.
These tools have the advantage of directly affecting the decisions
and behaviors of consumers more than their values, which can lead
to improved effectiveness in the adoption of responsible behaviors.
In Chapter 12, Adeline Ochs and Julien Schmitt establish the general
framework of the topic by showing the main mobile applications
linked to responsible consumption and explaining their mechanisms
for influencing consumer behaviors.
Among the different categories of products and services affected by
these new digital applications, food products present specificities, as
highlighted by Christine Gonzalez, Béatrice Siadou-Martin and Jean-
Marc Ferrandi in Chapter 13. The authors look at the issue of the
compatibility of digitization and food sustainability. They then
establish a range of models that facilitate understanding of how to
influence consumer behaviors in favor of responsibility. In addition,
the types of digital devices that support the adoption of food
sustainability are detailed.
In Chapter 14, Myriam Ertz, Shouheng Sun, Émilie Boily, Gautier
Georges Yao Quenum, Kubiat Patrick, Yassine Laghrib, Damien
Hallegatte, Julien Bousquet and Imen Latrous go further in
examining the benefits of technology 4.0, in terms of extending the
lifespan of products and combating planned obsolescence. Through
a close analysis of the main features and functions of technologies
linked to “Industry 4.0”, including additive manufacturing, the
Internet of Things, Big Data and artificial intelligence, the authors
show how the characteristics of these technologies can help to
create augmented sustainable products. This is a major challenge of
our century!
If they indicate difficulties in the dissemination of sustainable
development (consumer skepticism, limitations of environmental
communications, waste, ineffectiveness of environmental measures,
etc.), the contributions gathered in this book have the great interest
of not stopping at limitations and suggesting concrete
recommendations and solutions to improve the effectiveness of
organizations. Our work offers evidence of the great potential of the
use of marketing tools and approaches to encourage sustainable
development. This book should therefore be considered a reformer
and a cause for hope!

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1
Opposing the Market Through
Responsible Consumption to
Transform It
Abdelmajid AMINE and Mouna BENHALLAM
IRG, University Paris-Est Créteil, France

1.1. Introduction
The increase of ecological and social concerns in recent decades,
calling for radical changes to modes of production and consumption,
shows the signs of a societal model that is flagging. This model, long
propped up by sales techniques that encouraged over-consumption
and the unbridled pursuit of possessions and material comforts, is,
now more than ever, being called upon to reorient itself around a
fairer sustainable balance between people, the environment and the
economy.
There has been criticism of marketing since the early 1970s
(Kassarjian 1971), highlighting its shortcomings and side effects,
namely, the harmful incitement to buy, the creation of superficial
needs and the devastating exploitation of natural resources. This
then developed with time around major concepts, such as
“sustainable development” (Nader et al. 1971), the “social
responsibility of companies” (Manrai et al. 1997), consumer
opposition (Penãloza and Price 1993) and even theoretical
frameworks, such as Transformative Consumer Research (TCR) (Mick
et al. 2012). The latter supports results-based marketing research on
major social issues (health, poverty, the environment, etc.), the
results of which are intended to improve individual and collective
well-being. All of these changes reflect the gradual dissemination of
contestation behavior and discourse to a wider section of the
population.
This phenomenon is evidence of the normalization of these
opposition practices (Amine and Gicquel 2011) and translates into an
inclination among consumers to make their behaviors more
disciplined, so as to bring about societal changes. In that regard, it is
clear that socio-environmental concerns are preeminent, as
expressed through the protest-based reactions1 of consumers
(Dubuisson-Quellier 2009). These dissenting movements have given
rise to a specific form of opposition of a socially responsible nature
(Benhallam 2016) 2, and spark recovery attempts from companies
who perceive them as a threat.
With this in mind, and in view of the digitalization of social
interactions and the increased speed of virtual exchanges (Kozinets
2012), we propose to explore practices of resistance, particularly
those organized by consumer groups online, especially on social
networks, given their significant impact.
As an example, following price increases, a boycott campaign
against Danone, launched online, took place in North Africa in 2018
and cost the brand 178 million euros3. The main lessons that we
want to highlight are intended to underline the ability of pressure
from consumer movements to force companies to reevaluate their
marketing practices and to push the public authorities and
associations to rethink the regulatory mechanisms of the markets.
More specifically, we will be working on answering the following two-
part question: “How does the online resistance of individuals
adhering to a responsible consumption approach express itself in the
face of market ideology? And which possibilities for social
development does it open up?” In order to do this, a two-year
netnographic study was conducted in three virtual communities
based around responsible social opposition, specifically, “Le
changement par la consommation [Change through consumption]”,
“Mr Mondialisation [Mr. Globalization]” and “Objecteurs de croissance
[Growth Objectors]”.

1.2. Corporate adjustment strategies in

response to the contestation of market logic
1.2.1. From an adaptive perspective of
uprising recovery by the companies...
In a fast-moving anti-establishment environment that often
generalizes (Dubuisson-Quellier 2009), companies have a tendency
to respond to opposition movements through adaptive and short-
term initiatives, such as the provision of products and services that
are supposed to be “responsible” (biological, fair, green). These
provisions are not necessarily backed up by a thorough review of
procedures, means and methods (Koskenniemi 2019). However,
companies would have to invest a lot in a transformative policy,
having to change their habitual reactive attitude of creating
incomplete offers and taking the risk of maintaining opposition,
rather than appeasing it. In doing so, companies are only suggesting
superficial adjustments based around a traditional sales logic, which
hints more at greenwashing than true compliance with the values of
social responsibility and sustainable development.
As a result, companies that subscribe to the traditional market-
oriented system are considered responsible, by anti-consumption
groups, for damaging the environment, encouraging over-
consumption and spreading poor-quality food (Daniel et al. 2008).
The one factor these activists have in common is the contestation of
a market logic that encourages excessive consumption, without
respect for individuals and groups developing practices supporting
opposition and anti-consumption, or even deviance (Amine and
Gicquel 2011). There appear to be several elements at play at the
intersection of different types of socio-environmental contestation, at
the micro level, companies and their enslaving mercantile practices,
and at the macro level, the overall functioning of society, which is
deliberately based on a consumerist logic emerging from the
capitalist system.
In fact, even though the market has recovered from some of the
criticism, and endogenized it through the development of products
labeled “sustainable” or “ethical”, the fact of the matter is that
significant numbers of citizens remain suspicious and continue their
protest and defection from the market (voluntary reduction of
consumption, prioritization of local distribution networks, boycotts,
etc.). While some consumers approve of companies’ efforts to
become greener, others continue to contest them or to be skeptical
towards them, assuming their intentions to be much less
respectable. The latter consider the “socially responsible” branding
of products to be a commodification of ethics and an opportunism
that only encourages their resistance to such companies. As a result,
the socially responsible position demonstrated by companies in the
traditional market and seen in the development provisions that are
labeled socially responsible have struggled to reach the expected
objectives, in particular, because they use the same sales techniques
and persuasive registers that have been challenged (Koskenniemi
2019). On the other hand, the failure of these companies to take the
socially responsible expectations and principles that consumers
associate with sustainable development on board creates a supply of
products and services that are considered to be insincere, as they do
not seem to align with the values defended by these individuals.
Indeed, the various contestation movements, characterized by
strong socially responsible concerns, are the manifestation of a
persistent criticism of the solely market-oriented offers of companies
and of market ideology, despite the attempts made to endogenize
them.
With this in mind, traditional marketing, which has, to date, adopted
reactive and adaptive strategies towards consumer efforts, should
now make a change to become part of a proactive strategy to
transform its values, provisions and processes, in order to meet the
expectations of socially responsible consumer-citizens.
1.2.2. ...to a transformative market logic under
pressure from protest movements
Further to the socio-environmental criticisms, the market is no
longer considered, from a consumer perspective, to be a place
where beneficial exchanges can occur. It is instead perceived as a
space of influence in which unbalanced exchanges take place, with
poorly equipped and influenced consumers who make sub-optimal
choices (Dobscha 1998).
The representation of the market from critical sociology (Baudrillard
1970) highlights behavior in opposition to the market, which is
considered as combative in view of the market’s hegemonic and
oppressive role. Moreover, the postmodern paradigm (Firat and
Venkatesh 1995) emphasizes the “fragmentation of society” that
makes it possible for consumers to free themselves through various
alternatives to consumption that constitute as many degrees of
freedom. From this point of view, this opposition concerns an
“expression of self” more than a “fight”. This being the case, the
opposition movements sometimes express themselves in relation to
the deterioration of the environment, considering the capitalist
system that governs the market to be a “structure of destruction”
(François-Lecompte and Valette-Florence 2006), and sometimes in
relation to the techniques of the market-oriented system, viewing
the market as a “structure of domination” (Murray and Ozanne
2009). At the same time, the emphasis is on the “conscientization”
of the consumer in regard to the tools and methods of the market-
oriented system. Roux (2007) refers to this “awareness” as a
precondition for learning about market relationships and then
acquiring skills that make it possible to have, in fine, a clear idea of
the context of trade and the unbalanced relationships of the powers
involved.
In order to address the object of criticism of marketing and the
market system and/or to articulate the resistance reactions of
consumers to this criticism, it is therefore necessary to consider the
nature of the market’s measures and their socio-environmental
impact. As a result, to regenerate, marketing would need to have a
genuine paradigmatic break, with the aim of inventing an innovative
and deliberately different marketing model (Badot and Cova 2008).
The latter should, in particular, identify the expectations and
interests of citizen-consumers in advance by measuring, at the
ethical level, the impact of their choices and actions on the different
stakeholders and, more broadly, on society as a whole. For a
company, this proactive attitude should consist of engaging in a
thorough process of transformation of methods and practices that
integrates more coproduction with the consumer, and researching
the meaning of goods offered and ecological and societal concerns.
The communities we have investigated have, in this regard, shown
criticisms and denunciations of the market system, as well as
guidelines for an alternative marketing model. This position is in line
with the values of these opposition communities, whose protest is
focused on social and environmental concerns (Benhallam 2016).
Indeed, in using the analysis of the data collected within these
communities (see Box 1.1), several possibilities for change, or even
for transformation, present themselves to the field of marketing.
Box 1.1. Netnographic study of three online communities
involved in responsible consumption
In order to respond to our question, and to be able to
understand how the communities in opposition to market
ideology express themselves and which possibilities they can
open up in terms of marketing practices, we have chosen a
qualitative netnographic approach. We are interested in three
distinct virtual communities who share their denunciation and
rejection of market-oriented ideology (and its corollaries, the
capitalist system and excessive consumption), while showing
their stance in favor of sustainable and managed consumption.
Our approach relies primarily on the study of one main
community, “Le changement par la consommation”, and two
secondary communities, “Mr Mondialisation” and “Objecteurs de
croissance”. The selection was based on the stated position of
the community, the high number of members, regular posting by
the central moderator(s) and significant member activity. The
inclusion of the secondary communities aimed to allow the
comparison of the results from the main community with those of
other fields, in order to ensure their relevance and to gain
external validation.
The netnographic study was carried out through a long (24
months) immersion in the three communities with non-
participative observation, ensuring a non-intrusive environment
with natural interactions that preserves authenticity on the
ground and the reliability of the data (Hewer and Brownlie 2007).
However, in order to respect the principles of ethics (Kozinets
2012), the central moderator(s) were asked questions relating to
the use and publication of data through private messages,
ensuring transparency in regard to our intentions and the use, for
purely scientific purposes, of the information collected.
The significant body of information available was filtered through
the use of key words (namely, resistance, opposition, rejection,
 (over)consumption, consumerism, commodification, consumer
ideology/values, etc.) and through the calculation of a Buzz
Indicator (BI) 4, developed on an ad hoc basis to select the most
salient and relevant data. We thereby retained the subjects and
concerns that are characterized by both strong engagement (BI
score) and significant recurrence within each of these
communities. The stable results obtained in this way have been
put into a reference framework suited to the opposition
phenomenon, the interpretation of which enables the
proposition, in fine, of possible changes to marketing practices.

Table 1.1. Main features of the three communities studied

(source: (Benhallam 2016))

Comm Aim of the community Cre Numb

unities ati er of
on centr
dat al
e mode
rator
s
Le Ma 1
chang Challenge the capitalist system and the modes
y moder
ement of consumption it creates and propose 201 ator
par la alternative solutions. 1
conso
mmati
on The different community posts are intended to
make its members react, while allowing
information to circulate within the social
network to reach a larger audience.

Mr Provoke reflection through information, videos Nov Severa

Mondi and pictures of issues related to the dominant em l
system and its impact on the life of humankind ber
alisati and the environment. The aim is to lead its 200 moder
on members to debate and create ideas and 8 ators
solutions. The community regularly organizes
protest activities online and on the ground.
Object Defend and spread the school of thought that Jun 1
eurs “degrowth does not mean living less, but e moder
de better with more goods and more 201 ator
croiss connections”. Involvement in debate and 2
ance interactions between members are a
requirement. Emphasis is also placed on
reflection and raising awareness, rather than
on proposing solutions.
The three communities studied (see Table 1.1), both the central
moderators and active members, aim to challenge the dominant
modes of consumption through an ongoing effort to deconstruct the
conventional market-oriented system, with the aim of proposing
alternative adjustments, or even breakthrough solutions.
The analysis of thematic content through exchanges between the
members of the three community sites has enabled, after the clean-
up of discussions, the data to be structured into two meta-topics
reflecting the main forms of expression of the opposition of these
movements. These meta-topics are divided into four categories
covering the challenging of the dominant ideology, the re-
establishment of trust in trade relationships, the reconsideration of
product offers and the reconfiguration of supply and distribution
networks.
1.3. Ideological and institutional categories of
expressions of contestation
1.3.1. Towards a redesign of the dominant
ideology of the market system
The strong denunciations by the communities of the dominant way
of thinking are intended to produce an ideological opposition, in
order to rebuild or reshape the ideas and actions of their members
and beyond. This ongoing work of re-ideologization is aimed at
producing and then establishing new values in opposition to the
market-oriented view: the primacy of solidarity, trade, being free of
charge, preservation of health, respect for nature and freedom of
choice. The opposition of the two value systems is explicitly
highlighted in the posts made by members: the quest to preserve
life in all its forms in order to pass it on to future generations is in
contrast to the structural trend of exhausting resources for insatiable
financial gain. The confrontation of these two world views
champions an alternative social model, defended by the three
communities and supporting a well-reasoned consumption that is
conscious of its effects on the environment, health and well-being.
In addition, and unanimously in the three communities studied, the
members place themselves in opposition to the dominant system by
stigmatizing the relentless pursuit of profit and the race to
accumulate material goods, on the one hand, and by praising
slowness and sobriety (Rabhi 2010) through reasoned consumption
for human and environmental well-being, on the other.
However, despite strong criticisms of marketing, it should be noted
that the three communities are not opposed to the idea of using
marketing’s weapons against it: developing logos, visual identities
and slogans; and monitoring posts to recruit more members,
respond to skeptics, and increase the fame of and loyalty to the
community site. For example, the “Objecteurs de croissance”
community, whose name is indicative, immediately suggests an anti-
growth message. It has also developed a visual identity with a snail
logo, in order to evoke the idea of slowness that the community
lauds to promote a degrowth process. The visual identity of the
community also has the slogan “Fewer goods, more links” (in the
original French, the rhyming “Moins de biens, Plus de liens”), to
establish the anti-growth idea and underline the importance of social
connections.

1.3.2. Towards reestablishing a relationship of

trust with the consumer
In underestimating the interest and concerns of consumers, and
society more generally, in terms of preservation of health, respect for
the environment and the struggle for equality, companies have long
allowed themselves to adopt dominant positions towards consumers.
This is why the relationship with business is perceived, by the three
communities studied, as a relationship always defined by power,
where the citizen-consumers are attempting to destroy the
“totalitarianism” of the market system (Baudrillard 1970) and its
powers of domination (Murray and Ozanne 2009), as well as
methods that are viewed as “perverse” (Penaloza and Price 1993).
The result of the hegemony of the company over consumers is that
the company has long dealt with features characterized by their
dissipation and their inertia, allowing it to exercise its influence over
them. On the other hand, what has changed is that, through
consumers grouping together in collectives, communities or
associations, they have been able to recalibrate the power
relationship, first initiating and then imposing alternative solutions to
the traditional market to counter this hegemony. This being the case,
the community members confirm that there should be freedom from
this dependence by inventing other forms of consuming that fall
outside the scope of the traditional market. This view translates into
a trend towards consumer empowerment, by imparting a world view
that is more conscious of health, more respectful of the environment
and more engaged in combating waste. The following statement,
issued by the “Le changement par la consommation” community,
illustrates the anti-waste idea by promoting self-consumption in
households: “Heyyy... I went over to homemade a while ago, so
satisfying to create your own products (treatments, make up,
household products, candy...) A great site for that: http://aroma-
zone.com/aroma/accueil_fra.asp with everything, loads of
instructions...” (www.facebook.com/le-changement-par-la-
consommation-21826348482205/).
As a result, the domination approach, questioned at the individual
and group levels by consumers, is challenged by a collaborative and
socially responsible approach, where companies and citizens
cooperate on a shared project, founded around basic values that
must be respected. This project, balanced between human,
environmental and economic components, would be the basis for the
development of suitable provisions and measures to be implemented
to the benefit of the different stakeholders. This possibility for
cooperation between companies and consumers could be a credible
alternative to a conventional marketing approach that is not
considered socially responsible. As well as its inclination to create a
new, fair and balanced relationship between the stakeholders, this
approach would constitute a means for the potential reconciliation of
companies with the protest movements that target them, e.g. the
anti-consumers, protesting citizens, counter-cultural communities5
and communities of socially engaged individuals, with a view to
encouraging business to take on a new idea of the world.
More broadly, for the online communities studied, this concerns the
reconsideration of the field of action and the use of marketing, which
should not be limited to sales but should take into account the
impact of its choices on health, resources and the environment. This
means a shift in the center of gravity of power, from the sole interest
of the company to an integration of the collective interest. To that
end, research highlights that brands will regain the trust of
consumers when they show their ability to assume civic
responsibilities (Dubuisson-Quellier 2009) alongside their role as an
economic actor. Consumers and civil society will make their presence
felt as stakeholders in considerations, positions and economic and
social choices, as basic elements of an alternative and inclusive
vision of the market.

1.4. Pragmatic and operational categories of

market contestation
1.4.1. Towards a sustainable reconsideration
of product offerings
Stemming from the values defended by the members of these
communities involved in ecologically responsible consumption, the
offering of products and services is supposed to respond to a three-
fold demand: that they are useful, sustainable and recyclable.
According to the members of these communities, this is not only
about promoting a “really useful” product, but also one with
sustainable and recyclable properties, with a view to limiting the
depletion of natural resources. The “sustainable” nature stands out
as one of the features that the members of the three communities
expect most, as evidenced by, among other things, the tendency to
avoid impulsive purchases of short-lived and useless “gadgets”.
Table 1.2. Views of the development of marketing practices
through the lens of responsible consumption
Product Expectations in Expectations in Inherent or
offering terms of the terms of the mobilized
s and suppression of development of values
practic superfluous or responsible and
es unsustainable sustainable
concern products products
ed
Cosmet Industrial and Natural products Protection of
ic, over-packaged based around health and the
hygiene products natural components environment
and and with natural
self- packaging
care
product
s
Food Products Products from bio- Protection of
product transformed by agriculture and/or health and the
s and produced by small farmers and environment,
traditional green cooperatives, solidarity
agriculture with as little
modification as
possible
Pharma Chemical Natural products Protection of
ceutical products with with proven benefits health and the
product sometimes for people and the environment
s serious side environment and
effects without notable side
effects
Motor Polluting products Environmentally- Protection of the
vehicle subject to friendly substitute environment
s and planned products: bikes,
technol obsolescence electric cars, public
ogical transport with less
product of an impact on the
s environment
 Networks for swaps, Solidarity,
Distribu Widespread trades and decommodificatio
tion distribution and giveaways n of trade
channel traditional Circular economy Reduction of
s networks (second-hand shops waste
and purchases,
recycling)
Short “small Protection of
Consu producer” networks health and the
mption- and/or specialized environment,
structures reduction of
related
events waste
Sales periods, Days/weeks without (Re)developing
periods with purchases social
promotions and Encouragement of connections, the
special events minimalist and primal importance
(encouraging activist purchases of the usefulness
over- “useful” to people of the object,
consumption) and the reduction of
environment waste
Commu Aggressive and Social advertising Promoting
nicatio intrusive promoting the individual and
n advertising, values of collective well-
advocating the responsibility, being, protection
accumulation of protection of the of health and the
goods, environment and environment
possessions and respect for human
appearances health
In the same vein, these communities seem to be particularly
attached to combating planned obsolescence, which is both a tool
facilitating the continuation of the traditional market system (limiting
the lifespan of products in order to encourage consumption) and a
factor in the deterioration of the environment (promoting the waste
of resources and the creation of refuse). Beyond the fight against
the waste created by planned obsolescence, the community
members also mobilize against the producer practices tainted by
“irresponsibility”, “manipulation” and “cynicism”. In this regard, they
propose strategies to circumvent planned obsolescence through
mechanisms to repair used or malfunctioning objects (clothes,
household items, cars, furniture, etc.), including by sharing sites
advocating personal repair: “Here’s a link that you should like! The
dream for combating the planned obsolescence of products:
www.commentreparer.com. Don’t throw away, repair!” (Change
through consumption).
Lastly, in contrast to the rejection of unsustainable products and
services triggered by the traditional market, the members of the
three communities opt for offerings that are compatible with the
values of responsible consumption. This attitude paves the way for a
large range of new behaviors suited to well-reasoned consumption.
It is precisely at this level of analysis that researchers and decision-
makers must add their will to act, adapt and even to reform, as
advised in Table 1.2. This shows two views of the development of
product offers at the dawn of sustainable consumption by
considering, on the one hand, the expectations of consumers
involved in suppressing non-compliant products (those harmful to
people and their environment) and, on the other hand, the
expectations in terms of developing new products characterized by
usefulness, sustainability and responsibility.

1.4.2. Towards a necessary reconfiguration of

supply and distribution channels
In the same vein as the obligation to rethink product offers, the
members of the communities studied take into account their search
for alternative supply structures, which are deployed alongside
traditional distribution networks, which are characterized by
unethical practices, namely, an appropriation of value and an
unequal distribution of profits. This naturally leads to a shift towards
substitute supply networks that respond to the imperatives of
responsibility and sustainability, such as short, circular or cooperative
networks, among others. These alternative structures rely on
different operations and aims than those dependent on the
convention model, insofar as they respond to expectations for
healthy and authentic products, created in decent working
conditions, for a fair price and with less of an environmental
footprint.
While it is well known that these alternative structures already
operate alongside the market, they are the subject of repeated
demands from the members of the three communities, who call for
them to become widespread throughout society as a whole and to
progressively become the norm in consumption. According to these
communities, short networks that use a smaller number of
intermediaries should be prioritized, thereby promoting a more
equitable distribution of revenues among (small) producers and
retailers, and the proposition of more accessible prices for end
consumers. To that end, a number of members have attributed the
high cost of “green” products to the currently significant number of
intermediaries between the production stage and the product
becoming available to the end consumer. The supply networks
promised by these communities are therefore characterized by direct
purchasing from farmers, local producers, peasant associations,
green cooperatives and activist structures, such as Enercoop and
Kokopelli. To that end, the members share web links to various
shopping websites to encourage, in particular, the use of Amap
(Associations pour le maintien d’une agriculture paysanne –
Associations for the Maintenance of Peasant Agriculture), as
highlighted in the following post: “The Amap directory for France:
www.reseau-amap.org. On this site you will find: information on
what an Amap is, an Amap directory and a guide to help you to
create your own Amap” (Le changement par la consommation).
Lastly, the members of these communities promote experimentation
with new forms of trade, following the example of networks of
mutual aid, second-hand sales and free provision of goods and
services between individuals sharing the same values of responsible
consumption through the organization of regular or periodic events
(such as trade fairs, markets or swap sites). A number of sites have
thereby been made available to members, who have many spaces
dedicated to talking about their experiences and recommendations
from their participation in these events. In doing so, they contribute
to creating a sort of library of knowledge that is distributed between
the different members and continually enriched by the experiences
shared. The example of the site recup.net, shared on several
occasions by the community moderator of “Le changement par la
consommation”, is telling. It highlights the importance of the circular
economy in reducing the production of waste, protecting the
environment and combating planned obsolescence:
The Recup site is a site for donation, reclamation and free swaps,
where everyone is able to propose and give over the Internet,
rather than throwing out what they want to get rid of. Recup.net
is not a site facilitating sales or trades [...], but a site for
donations. It must remain a sharing space where anyone can find
free recovered objects.6

1.5. Conclusion and implications

The disenchantment and discontent expressed towards the
consumerist society by socially responsible consumers organized in
online communities cannot be reduced to a circumstantial
phenomenon, but falls within a radical questioning of the traditional
consumer model (Sansaloni 2006). This kind of resistance through
engagement with and for a socially responsible consumption is
thereby characterized by the structural and collective dimension of
the phenomenon and by its appearance in different forms
(ideological, institutional and operational) of consumption. In fact,
numerous experts agree that in terms of a “citizen”, “socially
responsible” or “sustainable development” position, it is not a
question of a temporary enthusiasm, but rather of a lasting change
in the collective consciousness and the practices of individuals. The
serious trends that are taking shape and establish responsible and
Another random document with
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“I have fallen pretty low, n’est ce pas, Molly?”
“I didn’t say so.”
“But I have; I couldn’t go much lower, it seems to me at times.”
“Have you made yourself happy?” Molly inquired serenely.
Mrs. Wilbur did not care to answer. Molly’s incipient jealousy hardly
deserved attention. Her fears were groundless, for Jennings was
merely watching the play out, and assisting the action in obtrusive
ways. He had told Mrs. Wilbur that his cousin Mrs. Stevans had been
in Florence earlier in the winter and that she and Erard were quite
chummy. “Erard’s buying her a carload of stuff.” She inferred that
Mrs. Stevans was the present deity who made Erard’s course easy,
and that Erard was even better informed about her own affairs than
she herself. Yet Erard had never alluded to what he had learned
from Mrs. Stevans.
One day, moreover, Jennings related the incident of Peter Erard and
the old man on Halsted Street. “Peter was a stubborn beast,” he
explained. “He refused to be comforted. Yet he took his private’s
place in the line, like a man. And Peter had to join the dumb.”
“You are fond of the dumb,” Mrs. Wilbur said wistfully, neglecting to
follow out the implications of the Erard tale.
“They are not picturesque, but—” And after a silence he told her of
his own dilemma. He had received an offer of the headship of a
southern training school for negroes. He was trying now to settle the
question of accepting it. Mrs. Wilbur refrained from commenting. She
would like to say, “Go,” but that word might sound strangely in her
mouth.
In spite of all this influence which Jennings brought, the old life of
work with Erard went on. She had no excuse for breaking with him,
even though the hot June days sapped her strength, and his
demands grew burdensome. And she was afraid of him as well as
curious to know what humiliation he had in store for her. What new
corners in his nature had she to explore before the end came?
Somehow it was in the air that this thing was to be fought out
between them to an end. Each recognized the struggle and
hesitated.
The Tuscan summer crept on apace over the hills. The leafy woods
in the Cascine glowed in the sun; down the river a thin line of stately,
flower-like trees threw pictures of an afternoon in the pools of the
Arno. The nights on Bello Sguardo were like jewelled velvet. She
waited, apathetically, for some sign, some impulse of readjustment.
 CHAPTER VII
Late in June Mrs. Wilbur and Erard went again to Rome with several
other members of the Circle. There a gradual languor stupefied her
will. The year with its multiform passions had scorched her, and she
found herself feeble before the fierce heat, the parched season of
Italy. Over her drawing her arm would relax, and she would gaze
vacantly at the object before her, wondering where the beauty in it
lay. Beauty, which she had worshipped so passionately had escaped
her, was fleeing further every dead day, and behind the smile of
creation which had roused her pulses, she was now feeling the dull,
earthy matter. How could Erard find sensations in this pulverizing
atmosphere! Dust, dust,—the pictures and frescos were crumbling in
dust, and the hard white marble had died long ago: it was crumbling
now, and the fragments were disintegrating. Behind her in the forum
there was a mound of dead dust, and she and Erard were handling
mould of a later date. It would all crumble some day, and lie baking
in the hard sun, silent for centuries while the world trod it out for
vulgar uses.
Yet she did not complain. She was ashamed to whimper now. The
morning came when she could not drag herself out into the glare,
and she lay numb in the stuffy room of the little Albergo Nero where
Erard had placed the party. One day something like a miracle
occurred—a new infusion of will. Jennings appeared, and saying
merely, “Come! you are worn out,” brought her back to Florence like
a sick child. There had been a scene with Erard, who scoffed at her
indisposition, and scolded her for leaving him in the lurch. Jennings
had repeated his compelling “Come.” The two men had exchanged a
few innuendoes, Erard betraying his gutter-blood, and Jennings
preserving his ironical good-humour. She had not made a sign, until
Jennings remarked softly,—“So Freedom has come to this! In the
last resort you must act.”
The household on Bello Sguardo had received her as a prodigal,—
Luisa with loud exclamations of joy, Pina with roses, and Molly with a
kiss. Yet she knew that the end was not yet. Erard would not let her
slip so simply, and in a way that humiliating retreat from Rome had
left her more powerless than ever. While she waited Walter Anthon
came with real news: the divorce had been granted in chambers. Or,
in Walter’s solemn words,—
“Your husband has taken the measure which society allows him. You
are no longer Mrs. John Wilbur.”
His sister turned her weary eyes on him.
“The mail would have sufficed to tell me. Have you come all the way
from London to preach me a sermon?”
He had not been so simple. He had a plan as usual.
“You are free now. I suppose that will please you, even if your
husband that was, has made off with your money and is about to
marry again.”
The three ideas in this pungent little speech sank into her mind one
after the other. She was free. How she had agonized over that! And
how little it meant to be free, now that the courts had declared it to
society! The creases in her mind could not be ironed out by any
judge’s decree. When she realized the next step, she remarked
hastily, “He has taken only what I gave him.”
“Are you willing to give him your father’s money to enjoy with another
woman?”
She had had a vague idea that in giving up her original fortune to her
husband she was atoning in part for breaking the contract of
partnership. It seemed, however, that he had sought and obtained
his own satisfaction, and that her sacrifice was useless.
“He will do what is right,” she protested.
“Do you think this Mrs. Stevans will let him give up what he has got
his hands on?”
At the mention of this name her mind swept swiftly back to Chicago,
to the night of the reception when the new house was opened. She
had introduced Mrs. Stevans to Erard, and Erard had had a good
deal to do with her ever since. Singular freak of fate that Erard
should be connected with the two women in whom this man of
business had sought happiness! Perhaps something would come out
later, between these two, and a second scandal follow. She played
with her morbid fancy.
“Now, ma chère sœur,” Anthon resumed, attempting the difficult
passage with a light touch, “you have had your fling in the world like
the best of us, and have shown your heels rather freely. Don’t you
think it’s time to take in sail and make some port?” He could not hit
upon quite the right figure. “In other words, consolidate the present
position which you have chosen to create.” No phrase seemed
delicate enough for the business. But his sister helped him out.
“You mean you would like to have me induce Mr. Erard to marry
me?”
Her brother nodded. She laughed a long, low, relishing laugh. “So
this is the decision of the family. I am to marry the villainous Erard at
last!” She laughed again shrilly.
“Yes,” Anthon pursued, discomfited. “That’s the only thing to do now
for all parties, for Erard’s sake as well as your own. He is a very
clever fellow, and I have no doubt in time we can get him some
respectable place. He will make his niche in the world. I am told that
he is very strong in his line. But you probably know that as well as I.
“Of course,” he continued, as Mrs. Wilbur seemed occupied with her
own thoughts, “you would have to observe the convenances for a
time, live over here very quietly and not appear publicly in America
or London.”
“And suppose I have no wish to marry Mr. Simeon Erard?” his sister
asked at length.
“Not marry him!” Anthon gasped. “Good Lord, Adela, what do you
mean? You haven’t any objection to marriage in itself,—and when it’s
to save your reputation.”
Mrs. Wilbur reddened at the concluding phrase. “You didn’t think that
it would require any urging to make a woman who is compromised
accept the honourable position of wife?”
“Don’t speak so shockingly, pray.”
“But you are wrong, dear Walter,” she gave a sarcastic laugh. “There
is really no illegal relation between us—pray don’t squirm at words.
There was a time when the outcome might have been different. But
now that you have planned it all nicely, I am sorry that I cannot
please you. Marriage with Mr. Erard at present does not really seem
to me so possible.”
This attitude mystified the young man; he caught on the words “at
present.”
“Oh, take your own time, Adela. Satisfy your own prejudices. But
don’t let this opportunity escape,—of squaring yourself with the
world.”
He sat back in his chair, satisfied that he had put his case well and
had the logic of events on his side. He would teach this irrepressible
sister that he knew what he was about, after all. Mrs. Wilbur opened
her lips to retort; then lay back in her chair. At last she turned
towards him as if her mind had come back to an errand-boy who was
waiting for his message.
“Walter, you are young enough to learn a lesson and profit by it, if
you care to. Don’t meddle. Especially in what are courteously called
affairs of the heart. Good people think they are courageous when
they say unpleasant things, and try to run the universe their way. It is
a blunder, and mere vanity on their part. You have bustled about
over me ever since I came from America, and you haven’t the
excuse for your impertinence of any great affection. You are a vain
young man, and you are weak. You are pretty to look at, and you
have good manners—when you are properly subdued. No! listen, for
this is the last time you are likely to hear what is good for you. I am
willing to believe that you are clever, though a list of brilliant
acquaintances and a post in London journalism are really not great
heights to reach. You are a little man, Walter, an amiable little man,
and that is why the big world tolerates you. But you mustn’t become
didactic! Now run in and ask Pina to bring tea out on the terrace and
to call Miss Parker and Mr. Jennings, if they’re at home.”
A good deal of the romance of his mission was reft from Walter
Anthon by this incisive lecture. So far his diplomacy and tact had
ended in his being corrected like a small boy, and sent into the
house to order tea. He went, however, without further words,
resolving to bring up his plan at another time, when his beautiful
sister was more amenable to reason.
The sight of Miss Parker comforted him. She was so séduisante, he
confided to her, in a summer dress, pouring tea under the lemon
blossoms, while she inquired tenderly after all his little interests. She
had the feminine art his grand sister so brutally lacked, of keeping in
mind all your personal affairs. It was adroitly flattering to mention his
article in the April Book-Grower, and to discuss the éclatant cynicism
with which he had flourished into his peroration. Finally, perceiving
that Mrs. Wilbur was preoccupied, she had suggested taking him for
a walk in the cool of the evening. There was a view behind the hill
into a side valley that was especially fine in this light. Then she had
some errands for the household; he could exercise his Italian. It was
all so daintily, so coquettishly managed, Anthon thought with
complacency. No London girl could rub you just the right way like
that. It was delicious to feel yourself falling into such toils. But she
would have to make them strong! If folly were to be his lot, it must be
a long-drawn-out, sweet folly.
After they had left, Mrs. Wilbur lay quite still in her large wicker chair,
watching the pale silver plain at her feet shimmer in the blinding
flood of light from the western hills. The sea of heat seething in
myriad lanes above the trees hypnotized her flickering will. Why had
she rejected her brother’s plan for her salvation?
 CHAPTER VIII
She lay there motionless on the terrace into the still twilight. The little
mountain villages across the heated valley robed themselves in blue
mist. Beneath the wall the road up the hill from the Porta Fredano cut
the olive trees with its snaky coils. The silence was like the
emptiness of worlds.
Suddenly she rose, impulsively striking out for an escape. Erard
would come in a few days, hours, minutes. He might be in Florence
now. She must do something before she met him, find some
resolution. Unconsciously she began to follow the road, hastening
along its curves in an impetuous desire to flee. Gradually she
became conscious that she was seeking for Jennings. She might
find him below in the city, and he must save her,—he would know
how. So she ran on feverishly, dragging her weak limbs over the
great paving-stones, which were heated like an oven. Some instinct
led her to the Ponte Vecchio, where she happened on Jennings,
sauntering idly with the throng that had come out to breathe in the
evening air. Then she had nothing to say, but stood panting, her
white face flushing to the dark hair.
“What has happened?” he asked her gently, and taking her arm he
led her out of the sharp bustle on the bridge into a side street and
then to the entrance of the Boboli gardens. The great cypresses
threw an inviting shade, towards which they walked. Jennings waited
for her explanation.
“It has come, at last,” she stammered awkwardly. “I am free now.”
Jennings did not seem to understand her full meaning.
“But you have been ‘free’ for nearly a year. Have you at last found
peace in that potent word?”
“No,” she replied impatiently. “I did not mean that. Walter brought me
the news that—since the fifteenth—I have not been Mrs. Wilbur. I am
legally free—to make a mess of it.”
“Well?” He implied that this news was not unexpected, or of sufficient
importance to explain her tremor.
“It is dreadful,” she murmured incoherently. “What am I to do?”
“It hasn’t succeeded, has it?” His blunt words were spoken softly.
“There isn’t any real difference between these people, Erard’s Art
Endeavour Circle and Protestants in general, and the good people of
Chicago. They aren’t a great deal more interesting, Salters and
Vivian and the southern poet and the Jew critic and the chorus of
aspirants, than the Chicago lot with their simpler ambitions and
manners and cruder expression. On the whole they aren’t so good;
they are nearer dead: the others have a race to run, and these have
only their graves to dig. And if I were going merely to rot,” his voice
trembled, “I should rather rot with the Philistines and be a good
human animal than—”
“Well, there are others,” she protested. “You mention only the small
fry, like me.”
Jennings looked at her abstractedly. He was answering his own
heart rather than considering her.
“They are all much alike, these sighers after art and beauty. A poor
lot, take them as a whole, who decide to eat honey all their lives! I
have seen more of them than anything else in Europe,—dilettantes,
connoisseurs, little artists, lazy scholars. Chiefly Americans, who,
finding America too incomplete, come here and accomplish nothing.
In every centre in Europe you can find two or three of them in the
various stages of decay. The environment they run after atrophies
their faculties; the very habits of life which are best for these people
hurt them; they sink into laziness. Erard is the leader of the tribe,—
the grand high-priest of the mysteries of the higher senses!”
He ended his declamation with a laugh. His cold contempt shut her
heart and drove her back to defence.
“But he has made it worth while; you are not fair to him. He has lived
in the only way he could and reach his ends. And he has done
something; he knows.”
“Perhaps,” Jennings agreed dubiously, thinking his own thoughts
aloud with brutal disregard for her inferences. “What a bloodless,
toady existence, sucking in the joys of his paradise! And for what? A
few books to be replaced by a new set in another generation, a few
epigrams, and a little quivering of his ‘sensorium.’ Better a day in an
Indiana town, than a year of that!”
Mrs. Wilbur turned her face away. Even he was so pitiless! She had
come to him in her distress for comfort, and instead of soothing her,
of leading her out of her tangle, he heaped up this stern indictment
against all her past ideals.
“You didn’t know Peter Erard.” He began to tell that story again. “You
see, there was the mother. She died, saving her pennies to give
Simeon a new suit when he was tutoring Mr. Anthon’s daughter.
Then there were the father and Peter. The father was too old to
work, and Peter kept him comfortable and I believe sent Erard
money, first by a job in Jersey City, then by one in Chicago. Over a
year ago Peter met with an accident and lost his job—Miss Parker
knows these facts—and, finally a little while ago, died. When he was
ill, Erard, Simeon, that is to say, was in Chicago, giving lectures and
visiting. Peter saw him once. And the old man might die in the poor-
house now, if it weren’t for Miss Parker.”
Mrs. Wilbur listened with compressed lips. She had been fighting off
this disagreeable tale for a long time.
“That Peter Erard—he was a man!” Jennings continued, his face
lighting up. “He had it in him to do something, and he knew it, and he
never talked slush. He took his place in the ranks, like a man. And
now he is dumb, as he was in life!”
“Perhaps the other one showed his genius by defying all these
claims and making his way in spite of them,” Mrs. Wilbur stammered,
remembering the Napoleonic glory of Simeon’s first confessions to
her. Jennings looked at her pityingly.
“Do you think so? now that you know the story in all its sordid detail?
And can you still think that the result is worth while? Is it any better
than the grab, and the coarse perception about traction stocks, and
the rest of the unpleasant side of Chicago which annoys our nostrils?
Merely because you work in pictures or books, and not in pork and
dry-goods. Ah, Peter was the man, and he was a private!”
“You aren’t fair to Simeon—to me,” she retorted hotly.
“You make nothing of that hunger for something beautiful, that love—
I had it, you can believe me. Some people have it and die unless—”
“Did you get what you wanted?” Jennings exclaimed, pacing back
and forth across the strip of gravel.
“No!” she exclaimed in something like a sob. “The joy faded so fast!
And the more I grow to know, the less I am filled with the old rapture.
I have striven so to possess joy, and gone so low in my own sight. It
is bitter, bitter—”
“Europe tempts us Americans,” her companion interrupted
excusingly. “It holds so many treasures, and the life of the spirit is
organized here. I came near giving in, once, those days in Oxford
where everything seemed spread for enjoyment. I rather longed to
help myself to dainties until I was full. But—”
“But what?”
“It’s against nature, a sin against nature. Life is not fulfilled, we are
not quieted, in that way. To accept the world as it comes to our
hands, to shape it painfully without regard for self,—that brings the
soul to peace.”
He had made his decision, and evidently he had found some solace.
She could not take the same road easily; she had gone the other
way. She looked up into his face longingly, pleadingly, as if she were
wildly hoping that he would take her with him, that he would not
leave her in her wanderings.
“I am going back to the niggers,” Jennings continued after a pause in
a lighter tone. “Won’t that please Mrs. Stevans! I think my friends
expected me to become another kind of Erard.” He laughed good-
humouredly. “And likely enough they are right, to thrash about for the
sweets and what you call freedom. But it seems to me ridiculous and
undignified.”
With these careless words he seemed to close the topic which had
agitated her so profoundly. She felt that she ought to have enough
pride and self-reliance to accept her difficulties silently, but a certain
feminine dependence on leadership—strange to herself—left her
feeble before this crisis. She appealed to him audaciously, clinging to
his strength. “And I—what shall I do?”
“Is it all over—the joy and the venture?”
“I seem to have died, instead of gaining freedom.”
“That word! How it deceives us! You have chased a shadow.”
“You mean?”
“There is no freedom and every one is free. It is all a matter of
feeling. And that feeling you cannot command.”
“Like love.” She glanced up at him, her face thrilling with a strange
idea.
“Yes, like love,” he repeated in a low voice. “It takes us unawares
when we have given up the search.”
“Then I have never loved.” Her mind revolved in a new orbit “When I
married I was seeking, seeking. When I studied, when I tried to act, I
was always seeking. And the more I have struggled the farther I
have gone—away, astray. Even the first false light that shone those
September days when the pictures spoke, went, and I am left alone
with my little knowledge, and nothing else, nothing. It is like love,”
she repeated at last.
“Yes. It is a state of feeling, of the spirit, not a condition of person.”
“I was as free in Chicago as I am here?”
He nodded.
“And my money has not bought it, nor my body won it.”
“Nor your mind,” Jennings added softly. “Nor your will. Not any of
these things.”
“It could come over there in the prairie-town.”
“Or with the niggers,” suggested Jennings with a slight smile.
The new conception gained hold on her, while she sat staring out
above the palaces of the city into the evening gloom. At last she
uttered in a low moan,—“After all, to be bound, bound with no one to
cut the cords; to be bound in spirit and flesh—no escape possible. It
is ghastly!”
“You said once that you wished to burn, to feel. You remember that
last night at Lake Forest?”
“And you replied—‘to dust and ashes,’” she added fiercely. “Is that all
for me?”
She rose from the bench with a sweep, a touch of defiance that
brought back her old impressive self. She seemed to say, “You mock
me. Impossible that I, who am beautiful and keen in mind, that I who
have striven, am to become mere ashes.” And the movement which
challenged him, saying, “I am a woman,” said also, “I can love.
Teach me, you new master, and you will find me humble. Take me,
and make me over to fit your freedom.” But he made no sign of
acceptance, merely looked back at her dark head with its flaming
eyes, admiringly, with homage and with pity,—but with nothing more.
He knew her to the bottom of her heart and he was compassionate,
but he would not save her, could not save her.
“So you are going to take the commonplace,” she said at last,
irritably, closing her eyes and turning her face away.
“Yes, the very commonplace.”
“And nothing tempts you?” She shot a glance which searched him,
knocking to find a hollow sound in his protestations.
“No.”
She walked away to the farthest shade of the cypresses, thinking
with a pang: “He will marry Molly. I am—dust and ashes.” Then she
was haughty with herself for having craved relief through him. It was
foolish for her to believe that she might yet be taught to accept and
to feel again as children feel. What could he do for her? What had
she to do with love? She had never known the word until to-night.
In an instant she was at his side again. “You think me an impossible
creature to be shunned?”
“No. I was not thinking of you in particular,” he answered gravely.
And she felt doubly ashamed, as they descended the terraces of the
garden, silently, mournfully.
 CHAPTER IX
That evening Molly remarked to her friend abruptly, “Walter thinks he
wishes to marry me.”
“Well?” Mrs. Wilbur asked with quick curiosity.
“I’ll tell you all about it. He feels badly now, but, if it doesn’t get out he
will be all right in a few weeks. He asked me to do it—marry him—at
least for your sake. But I told him I couldn’t do it, even for you.”
“He means so very well, Molly!” Mrs. Wilbur exclaimed with some
compassion.
“Yes, too well by me! He’s been trying not to do this thing ever since I
have known you. He almost slipped twice, no, three times. This
afternoon he didn’t want to do it one bit, and even at the end he
made me feel that it was a condescension on his part.”
“Oh, Molly!”
“He began by thanking me profusely for all I had done for you. Told
me the family were very appreciative of my efforts to save you from
yourself, and to preserve the decencies of social life.”
Mrs. Wilbur winced.
“He said a great crisis was coming in your life now, and we two, Mr.
Anthon and I, could help you so much in case—”
“The little hypocrite! Was that all?”
“Yes, about you then. I think the next event was that he tried to kiss
me before he had really said anything—well, definite. He first took
my hand, then insinuated his arm about my waist—we were in a dark
corner under a wall—”
“Molly!”
“Well, we know him so well! and I wanted to see what it is like to
have love made in that way. I felt like,—as if I were a maid, a
servant. It was quite horrid! It might have been Pina. When he
reached a certain point, just beyond the proper pressure for a waltz
—I, I laughed.”
She laughed again at the memory.
“Then I lectured him soundly. I began ’way back with the beginning,
—his running around after people, his toadying, his literary
ambitions, his self-importance. I talked to him about his treatment of
you in Paris; he merely wanted to get rid of you decently. After that
we discussed love. I used some of Erard’s psychology. He was after
sensations merely, I told him—wanted to know how it would feel to
kiss me. He would be awfully lugubrious afterwards, if I had snapped
him up, and he had come to his senses to-morrow to find himself
engaged to a poor girl twenty-five years old with no social pulls. I
described to him how such a man ‘falls in love,’ and how he makes a
grumbling, fault-finding husband. Oh! I taught him a lot!”
She laughed again. Mrs. Wilbur wished to laugh also, but restrained
herself.
“I ended by giving him some good advice about himself. In the first
place he must get some kind of principles, just for convenience. Now
he doesn’t care about anything but the looks of things. And do you
know what he said—he was very angry by this time! ‘Why, Miss
Parker, you have a singular misconception of me. How could I have
all the friends who surround me and how could I make so many
influential connections in London, if I were the sort of man you
describe?’ Actually, he said that. Your brother, Adela, is quite
hopeless.”
“Was that all?”
“Yes, he was very, very angry, so mad he forgot to be hurt. It was the
kindest way to send him off. He will go back to London to-morrow,
pretty well cured of an infatuation, which, he assured me, had
extended over five years.”
Mrs. Wilbur laughed this time without scruple. But after a time she
said earnestly, “You might have done so much for him, Molly!”
Molly looked at her, with a trace of contempt in her smiling mouth.
“Do you think that’s the right place for missionary endeavour,
Adela?” An instant later she nestled up to her friend. “Forgive me,
dear. I am horrid and heartless.”
The two shed a few tears. “We women never escape our affections,”
Mrs. Wilbur remarked ruefully, thinking of the afternoon. “Men get
along so much more easily.”
“I don’t want to escape!” Molly replied promptly, and then blushed.
Walter Anthon departed the next morning at an early hour, leaving
behind him, in a fluent, spiteful little note, his last words to his sister.
He now made the final washing of his hands in her case, and having
pointed out the path of true wisdom and decency, he left her to profit
by the lesson. Mrs. Wilbur tossed Molly the note. “See what a
rupture you have made, Molly, between brother and sister!”
“The little beast! He wants you to marry Erard! I didn’t think he was
as bad as that, or I should have added a fifthly to my sermon.”
“Perhaps he is right,” Mrs. Wilbur asserted drearily.
She wondered where Erard was these days. He had not written her
from Rome, thus attempting to discipline her for her revolt by
neglect. She did not know that he had returned to Florence, that he
was quietly biding his time, nor that Walter Anthon had seen him
before he had come to her on his last diplomatic errand. Indeed, that
errand had been but a part of Walter’s scheme, the plan of which
had already been worked out in the rooms on the Piazza San Spirito.
The two men had come to an understanding, during an hour of
vague fencing: young Anthon was to strike first, and then after a
decent interval Erard was to conclude the matter.
In the meantime letters from the outside world penetrated Mrs.
Wilbur’s silence, like little voices talking over her divorce. Strangely,
the most moving one was from Mrs. Anthon. “That loud Mrs. Stevans
has the house your father’s money helped to build. They are to be
married in London, the papers say, and when they get back in the fall
they expect to do the house all over and put in all the pictures and
rubbish she’s collected. Her photograph was in the Sunday
Thunderer last week—as big and coarse looking as ever.... I feel old
now, Ada, and it seems as though, after all I have done for my
children, I weren’t wanted in the world. Your brother John’s wife
doesn’t like me, and now you are gone, there’s no place to go to
except a hotel, and that doesn’t seem quite respectable. But it won’t
be for long....”
As she read this letter, something like remorse came over Mrs.
Wilbur for her harsh and unsympathetic treatment of her mother.
Since the talk in the Boboli gardens with Jennings several
illuminating ideas had altered her conception of life. It could not be
denied that this mother was silly and vulgar. But to be foolish, to be
common, was not the most hideous crime for pitiable human beings
to commit, she had begun to realize. And what had she gained by
her struggle for escape? She was drifting now, uncertainly. Drifting,
her life must be, if she continued her effort; drifting on into a
declassé milieu, where she would amuse herself with the gossip and
fritter of art, where her sole object would be to enjoy and pass away
the years. She had learned well what that kind of European life was
like.
Thus a week, two weeks passed. Jennings was to leave for America
in another fortnight. Erard was yet to be heard from, and she was
sure that the day was not far off when he would show his hand. At
times the idea of the tie that bound her to him exhaled a strange kind
of corrupt fascination. How he had dominated her! What was there
inside of him? She felt a reckless curiosity to explore the dark,
private places of his soul, to touch his clammy self more closely, and
to know the worst.
At last Erard appeared late one evening. Molly and Jennings had
gone out in search of a cool breeze. As Mrs. Wilbur lay in the
moonlight on the terrace, she heard a soft step on the road below
the wall. It crept on around the corner, and the sound disappeared.
She knew it was Erard. Soon she heard his quiet, positive, yet catlike
tread on the terrace. She could feel his movement behind her; he
was gaining, coming closer at last, and she lay passive, wondering
what the outcome would be.
“You are quite alone?” Erard greeted her questioningly.
“Yes,” she murmured, without betraying either interest or surprise in
his presence. She took it for granted that he had just returned from
Rome.
“Such a heavenly night!” Erard dropped his glasses and leaned
against the parapet as if he had plenty of time for contemplation. He
had accepted the idea of marriage with its possible inconveniences,
yet he did not propose to be untactful, to place himself in the open by
asking her to become Mrs. Erard. He would first bid her love him, as
though he knew of no possible union for them. That was a finer
stroke, and if Anthon had had sense enough not to chatter about
their talk, all would go as he planned.
She was a fit possession to have, he reflected, as he watched her
white face. She was striving, unsatisfied, keen-minded, and
beautiful, with a reserve of feminine power, which even his
insinuating wits couldn’t penetrate. She was John Anthon’s daughter,
and had a hundred and fifty thousand from him, and a fool of a
brother. She was Sebastian Anthon’s niece, and had two hundred
thousand from him. Sebastian Anthon was the kind old fool who had
supplied him with money to live on, as you’d give a boy pocket
money; and then had turned him off to starve because he didn’t
make enough of a sensation. She had been John Wilbur’s wife, and
had deserted that pompous bourgeois at his suggestion because the
successful Wilbur was too much of a stupid. He, Simeon Erard, held
her in his hand as his ripe spoil.
“It is one great peace here,” he resumed. “I feel content, too. So
much that I have striven for all these years since you first began your
help to me has come about. I have been asked recently to contribute
a series of articles to the new International Review. There is talk, I
hear, of making me one of the sub-editors. That would necessitate
our living in Paris part of each winter. The publishers have begun to
print our book. I have the proofs of the first volume with me. We can
run them over together this summer.”
He paused, surprised that she seemed so languid. “Doesn’t that
interest you any more?” he asked suspiciously.
“Of course.” Mrs. Wilbur roused herself. “I am glad to know that your
efforts are meeting with their reward. You are getting some of the
prizes in your game.” A sudden whim made her add meaningly,
“Now you can afford to look outside; you can do something for your
father. Peter, you know, is gone. He died without getting the prizes.”
She could hear the gravel crunch under his feet as he turned swiftly
from his idle stand by the parapet, but he answered tranquilly.
“What have they to do with the matter? Have I ever mentioned them
to you? I will take care of them—him, in my own good time. You do
not understand, Adela.”
“Oh, no! you never mentioned them to me. It occurred to me that in
this new life of success, you might have time and means—to take
Peter’s place.”
He did not reply. Her remarks seemed to make little impression on
him. Instead, he drew near her, deliberately, watching her
steadfastly.
“What I wish is that this new life shall bring me you.” He pronounced
the words with slow emphasis. She remained numb, vaguely
repeating his words to herself. He continued slowly: “We are made
for each other.” Wilbur had said that. “You have the strong mind, and
you know what living means.” Too well, alas! and he had taught her
many a lesson. “We have lived this year as one person. You know
my thoughts; I know yours.”
He paused after every phrase. Then as he had planned, he
attempted passion. It was the right place for passion, and this silent,
white woman with her sombre face, who for once refused to meet
him, moved him to a sort of self-conscious passion. He trembled
slightly, and coming a step nearer, he bent over her chair and looked
into her face intently.
“You are mine, you are mine, my lady Adela!” He touched her arms
deftly, attempting to arouse her. “Adela! We have lived for one
another. My great woman!” He seemed to her nearer, yet nothing
moved her. She even looked at him calmly. His passion was clammy.
She must have more of it, however; it was like a triumph, a revenge